Nancy Reagan is dead at 94

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Nancy Reagan, former President Ronald Reagan's wife, died Sunday of congestive heart failure at the age of 94 in Los Angeles.

A spokeswoman for the Reagan presidential library confirmed the former first lady's death on Sunday, and said she would be buried next to her husband, who died in 2004, at the library in Simi Valley, California.

Republican politicians and presidential candidates were quick to praise Reagan.

"Nancy Reagan will be remembered for her deep passion for this nation and love for her husband, Ronald. The Reagan family is in our prayers," Sen. Ted Cruz wrote on Twitter.

"Nancy Reagan was an exemplary First Lady and woman. She will be missed. My thoughts and prayers are with her loved ones. RIP Mrs. Reagan," Sen. Rand Paul said.

Reagan became one of the most influential first ladies in US history during her Republican husband's presidency from 1981 to 1989.

The former first lady played a major role in her husband's political career, acting as the face of the "Just Say No" anti-drug campaign and serving as a confidante and adviser to the president on a host of political matters.

As Nancy Davis, she was a Hollywood actress during the 1940s and 1950s and married Reagan, a prominent film actor, in 1952. She then served as first lady of California during her husband's stint as California governor from 1967 to 1975 before moving into the White House after his decisive victory over incumbent Democratic President Jimmy Carter in 1980.

Her most publicized project as first lady was the "Just Say No" anti-drug campaign. After her husband developed Alzheimer's disease, she became an advocate for discovering a cure.

She was diminutive and publicly soft-spoken but Nancy Reagan's strong will, high-tone tastes, and clout with her husband made her a controversial figure during his presidency.

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As Reagan's wife, political partner, and adviser, she became one of America's most potent first ladies, alongside the likes of Franklin Roosevelt's wife, Eleanor, Woodrow Wilson's wife, Edith, and Bill Clinton's wife, Hillary.

"I see the first lady as another means to keep a president from becoming isolated," she said in 1985. "I talk to people. They tell me things. And if something is about to become a problem, I'm not above calling a staff person and asking about it. I'm a woman who loves her husband and I make no apologies for looking out for his personal and political welfare."

Tiny and frail in her later years, Reagan devoted her time to caring for her ailing husband at their home in Los Angeles' exclusive Bel Air enclave. She was always a stickler for protocol and detail and stoically presided over the former president's weeklong funeral and celebration of his life in June 2004.